4-16-09

[Mr. IWS]

::moneybag::

[Mr. IWS]

Larry Ness

7* Daytime Dominator

Chris Carpenter (2005 NL Cy Young winner) has made just five appearances the last two seasons for St Louis. He left Tuesday night's game in Arizona after straining his ribcage and reports are that he'll miss at least four weeks. That's NOT good news for the Cards, who have gotten off to a impressive 7-3 start in 2009. The team didn't "pack it in" after Carpenter's injury Tuesday night, rather St Louis plated six runs after Carpenter exited. However, the team still lost 7-6 in 10 innings. The Cardinals bats were 'hot' on Wednesday afternoon though, pounding out 13 hits and scoring a season-high 12 runs. The Cardinals lead the NL in barring average (.296) and only the 7-1 Marlins are scoring more runs in the senior circuit than the Cards (5.8 per game). The Cubs lost 5-2 at home on Wednesday to the Rockies, which ended the team's three-game winning streak (Chicago has opened 5-3). Aramis Ramirez (3B) and Milton Bradley (OF) both sat out, with Ramirez listed as questionable (back) for this game, while Bradley (groin) is not expected to return until the weekend. Adam Wainwright gets the call for the Cards and Sean Marshall for the Cubs. I'm a big fan of Wainwright, who was a set-up man for the Cards in 2006 (2-1 with a 3.12 ERA in 61 relief appearances), when they won the World Series. He was converted to a starter in 2007, going 14-12 with a 3.70 ERA in 32 starts (team was 19-13). He was limited by an injury last year to 20 starts but was outstanding, going 11-3 with a 3.20 ERA (team was 15-5, including 10-1 at home). Wainwright pitched well in his first start of this year but did give up five walks. He got a no-decision, as the Pirates rallied for a four-run 9th to win 6-4 back on April 6. He went five innings and didn't allow a run on four hits (walked three and had four Ks) in an easy 11-2 win last Saturday over the Astros and Roy Oswalt, who pitched very poorly. Wainwright has allowed just eight hits in 10.1 innings this year with a 1.74 ERA, although both starts have come at home. Here, he ventures into Wrigley Field. The Cubs were 64-47 vs all right-handers last year, including 40-20 in Wrigley. Wainwright is 1-3 with a 6.10 ERA in 15 lifetime appearances vs the Cubs, including six starts (team is 3-3) in which he's posted a 6.55 ERA. The Cubs turn to lefty Sean Marshall on Thursday afternoon. Marshall made 24 starts in 2006, going 6-9 with a 5.59 ERA (team was 12-12). He made 21 appearances (19 starts) in 2007, greatly improving his ERA to 3.92 but still went just 7-8 (team was 9-10). He was the team's long reliever for much of the 2008 season, appearing in 34 games (seven starts), going 3-5 with a 3.86 ERA (team was 1-6 in his starts). He earned the team's fifth starting spot out of spring training and after two short relief stints, makes his first start of 2009 here. The good news is he's backed by a Cubs team with an excellent home record and one which has done very well in Wrigley vs right-handers (see above). More importantly, he catches the hot-hitting Cards in one of their worst situations, facing a left-handed pitcher on the road in a day game. St Louis was just 2-12 vs lefties in road day games last season, scoring only 3.2 RPG. The Cards have been in that situation just once this year (April 13 at Arizona vs Doug Davis) and while they won, the score was 2-1. Going against the Cards vs lefties in road day games leaves a bettor 12-3 (80.0 percent) since the beginning of the 2008 season.

Daytime Dominator on the Chi Cubs

[Mr. IWS]

Al

At 7:10pm our selection is on the New York Mets 'over' the San Diego Padres.

At 12:35pm our selection is on the Houston Astros and Pittsburgh Pirates 'over' the total.

[Mr. IWS]

Brandon Lang

5 Dime Cardinals - Red-hot offense this early in the season means something, and in this matinee clash, you can expect to see the Redbirds continue their hot hitting against arch-rival Chicago, which has won four of the past five meetings. That streak won’t matter much, as St. Louis has scored in double digits twice in their last five games, and is averaging almost six runs per game. The Cardinals also stroll into Wrigley having won six of their last seven – including two of three in Arizona against a rather good staff. The Cubbies, meanwhile, have put up a mere six runs in their last two games after scoring 28 in their previous four. And if the Rockies can pull out a 5-2 win over Rich Harden, I don’t see any trouble with a bigger rival out of St. Louis getting it done today.

5 Dime Padres - San Diego traveled across the country to play in the inaugural game at Citi Field on the second of back-to-back nights, and still knocked off the Mets. Though New York did notch its first win at their new home in their latest game, tonight it gets to face San Diego-ace Jake Peavy, who is 4-2 with a respectable 3.32 ERA in nine career starts against the Mets. The 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner is 1-1 on the young season, and has posted a rather decent 3.52 ERA thus far. And dating back to last season, the Mets are a disappointing 1-4 in Maine’s last five starts, and 2-5 when he starts against a winning team. The Pads have won eight the last 11 meetings, so I’ll look for the road team to get it done tonight in this one.

5 Dime Giants - I know that Barry Zito had a disappointing start to the new season, but he is 5-4 with a 4.27 ERA in 10 starts against Los Angeles and even more impressive 3-1 with a 2.73 ERA at Dodger Stadium. And after being up late in last night’s game and failing to hold a two-run lead, the Giants will be fired up for their rivals tonight. The Giants also have the motivation of avoiding a six-game road trip without a win. Hey, I know we’re going against a four-game win streak, but Eric Stults? Against Barry Zito? Aaron Rowand is batting .375 and has belted a couple of homers, including one yesterday, and has 7 RBI. I think he’s going to have a field day with Stults tonight.

FREE - Mariners

[Mr. IWS]

ROOT

Chairman--------------------Toronto
Millionaire------------------NY Mets